A mag­nif­i­cent fleet of Tall Ships are racing to Bordeaux! Their tri­umphant ar­rival opens the 20th edi­tion of the Bordeaux Wine Fes­ti­val

Bordeaux Wine Fes­ti­val, the guest of honor is the Tall Ships Re­gatta fea­tur­ing thirty of Europe’s finest sail­ing boats. This is a rare op­por­tu­nity to see and climb on board.

The ad­ven­ture be­gins on May 28, when the ships set sail from Liver­pool, UK, to ar­rive in Dublin on June 1 for the first leg of the re­gatta. Then on June 4, they raise their an­chors and nav­i­gate to­wards Bordeaux. The ar­rival of the Tall Ships in Bordeaux on June 14th opens the 20th edi­tion of the Bordeaux Wine Fes­ti­val. Bordeaux has only hosted the Tall Ships Re­gatta once be­fore, in 1990.

This is a thrilling race through the Ir­ish Sea, the Celtic Sea and the Bay of Bis­cay. “The Three Fes­ti­vals Tall Ships Re­gatta 2018 of­fers a great op­por­tu­nity for the cap­tains and crews to ex­pe­ri­ence ex­cit­ing racing in be­tween three at­trac­tive and vi­brant host ports”, said Paul Bishop, Race Di­rec­tor at Sail Train­ing In­ter­na­tional. “Race one will be around a num­ber of strate­gi­cally placed Way Points in the Ir­ish Sea, which will cre­ate close racing, with many of the fleet stay­ing in sight of each other un­til the fin­ish line off the coast of Dublin. There will then be a tran­sit to the sec­ond start­ing-line off the south-east coast of Ire­land, be­fore

racing the 480-mile leg into warmer wa­ters across the Bay of Bis­cay.” Or­ga­nized by Sail Train­ing In­ter­na­tional, the Tall Ships Re­gatta pro­motes tra­di­tional sail­ing to young peo­ple. Novice sailors will par­tic­i­pate in the re­gatta aboard some of the ships for one of the legs. It’s an un­usual nau­ti­cal event be­cause it re­unites large and small sail­ing ships, and links three fes­ti­vals held in Euro­pean ports — Liver­pool, Dublin and Bordeaux. Dur­ing the Bordeaux Wine Fes­ti­val, which takes place along the quays of Bordeaux, this mag­nif­i­cent fleet will dock in Port de la Lune and be open to visi­tors. Some of the ships par­tic­i­pat­ing this year are: Le Mor­gen­ster (Dutch); L’arawak (France - Bordeaux); Atyla (Spain); Le Belem (France); De Gal­lant (UK); Hosanna (France); Le Tarangini (In­dia); L’hermione (France).

PHOTO GUIL­LAUME BONNAUD

Le Belem near the Miroir d’eau dur­ing the Bordeaux wine fes­ti­val in 2016.